Astros take it to Yankees in 15-1 rout

Carlos Gomez doubled in a run against the Yankees in the first inning of the Astros' win at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night. Gomez drove in four runs, adding a three-run homer in the seventh inning.

Photo: Al Bello, Staff

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Astros lefthander Dallas Keuchel picked up his 15th win, throwing seven innings and allowing no runs on three hits with nine strikeouts.

Photo: Kathy Willens, STF

NEW YORK - The Astros wanted offense, and they wanted trade-deadline prize Carlos Gomez in full form. And in Tuesday's 15-1 victory over the Yankees, the pair of explosive forces combusted.

Gomez, a self-proclaimed little cat, at last turned into a tiger at Yankee Stadium. The rest of his pack had to look after him when his claws came out.

Finally, Gomez showed his star ability. He scorched a double in a five-run first inning before blasting a three-run, seventh-inning homer into the Yankees' bullpen. His last multi-hit game was Aug. 4, and he batted .117 in 17 games afterward.

But with Gomez also comes intense passion and a style of play that to some - including Yankees skipper Joe Girardi on Tuesday - can bring disrespect.

The Astros were asked about that trait when they traded for Gomez on July 30, and Tuesday they saw it for the first time.

In the sixth inning, one inning before his big homer, Gomez was frustrated on a fly out to center field off the same pitcher he would take deep, former teammate Chris Capuano. Gomez yelled at himself and flipped his bat as he walked down the line.

"Today, I'm starting the game hard," Gomez said. "And then two at-bats later, like, I come back to ground balls and fly balls to center field. How are you supposed to feel when you start the game like a tiger, and the middle of the game you're like a little cat?"

The Yankees didn't take kindly to Gomez's roar, particularly given they trailed 9-0. Gomez and the Yankees jawed, and the benches briefly cleared once Gomez and catcher John Ryan Murphy moved close.

Warnings were issued.

"I just told him to play the game right," Girardi said. "They're kicking our rear ends Just show a little professionalism to the pitcher."

Gomez said he wasn't trying to disrespect anyone. The pitch he hit for a home run, he said, was the same one he missed from Capuano when he was angry - a pitch he said he had been working on in batting practice.

"If they feel like I disrespect them when I throw my bat for frustration, they take it the wrong way, because I don't mean to do that," Gomez said. "I'm a passion guy."

Talking to reporters after the game, Gomez showed a combination of sarcasm, charm and, seemingly, sincerity.

He called Yankees catcher Brian McCann his friend. That was likely sarcasm.

He didn't specify who was yelling at him from the dugout, but the charm came out.

"He invited me to dinner," Gomez said of John Doe Yankee. "I say yes, let's go after the game.

"It's competition, and everybody is passionate. This is a game. Like, goto the 1980s, how they played the game. And everybody loved the game. I play the game like I'm supposed to play. I run hard every day.

"I come here smiling, play my game hard, and respect everybody and give everything I have every single inning. I don't care what the other teams say."

Reactions from the Astros were supportive of Gomez, with some teammates also empathetic to the Yankees' aggravation.

"It's a tough feeling on the other side, I think, when you have a game like that and it's starting to unravel," manager A.J. Hinch said. "But it comes from a good place. Carlos is just trying to compete. It is what it is. Calmer heads prevailed."

Astros starter Dallas Keuchel, the beneficiary of all the runs, struck out nine in seven scoreless innings and took his 15th win, extending his career high.

"He's a guy you love on your team, and if he's on another team, I can see why some guys don't like him," Keuchel (15-6) said of Gomez.

Jed Lowrie said because Gomez is known to play with passion, it shouldn't be looked at as a slight.

"If it was out of character, might be a different story," Lowrie said. "If I'm up there, you know, slamming my bat down … I don't think any of that is malicious."

Amid the dustup was a needed outburst from the rest of the lineup. In their previous eight games, the Astros had totaled 17 runs, and they had no more than three in any, spoiling some of the best starting pitching in the AL.

"I'm not too worried about it," general manager Jeff Luhnow said before the game. "I know our offense is going to come around. … Gomez is going to get back to where he's been. The guys that are scuffling a little bit are going to turn around."

Prescient.

The Astros' onslaught began three batters into the game, all with two out in the first inning. Carlos Correa's walk was the opening salvo against righthander Ivan Nova (5-6), who allowed seven runs in four innings.

Colby Rasmus tripled - one run. Evan Gattis walked. Gomez and Luis Valbuena doubled consecutively - one run and two runs, respectively. Marwin Gonzalez singled - one more across the plate.

Lineup order doesn't matter too much, because the desired order is only guaranteed in the firstinning. On this day, Hinch's lineup worked as designed.

Gomez batted sixth.

"It's a continual search for the lineup that can get us kick-started a little bit," Hinch said. "I'm trying to ease the burden of hitting in the middle of the order off (Gomez). … This is a guy that, any given day, can sort of snap out of the slow time that he's been having."

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